Check out our official podcast, Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk! A podcast all about the latest tabletop roleplaying game news! From D&D and Pathfinder to the latest indie games, it won't necessarily be accurate, or informative, or even competent, but we will try to have fun!

ICv2, the tabletop gaming industry’s biggest source for market information, released their numbers for both the fiscal year of 2017 as well as the quarterly sales rankings from Spring 2018. The tabletop gaming market accounts for a total of $1.5 billion, which is gross sales for all physical products across all outlets (online, big-box retail, hobbyist/game stores, and crowdfunding). Collectible games sold $725 million, non-collectible miniature games sold $270 million, hobby board games sold $345 million, hobby card and dice games sold $150 million, and tabletop roleplaying games sold $55 million.

Steve Jackson Games announced the newest licensed property to join the Munchkin brand: Warhammer 40,000. The game will launch in 2019 with art from John Kovalic and be cross-compatible with all other Munchkin games. The deluxe core set will be available for $29.95 with two expansions of 112 cards each coming later in the year for $19.95 each. A card count for the core set was not listed in the press release, but it was announced that combined with the expansions, it would be “almost 400 cards” which indicates that the core set will be close in size to the main edition of Munchkin which comes with 168 cards. The line itself will be designed by Andrew Hackard, the line editor for Munchkin, in consultation with Games Workshop.

After nearly twenty years with FFG and four years with Asmodee, I’ve seen our market go through tremendous change and amazing growth. Tabletop games have been accepted into the fabric of society and represented in pop-culture more positively than anyone could have hoped for when I joined the industry. I feel fortunate to have experienced this phenomenon first-hand, and to have been part of such an incredible journey.

Now it’s time to hand the reins to a new generation of leaders who along with the amazing staff at Asmodee North America and its studios (Catan, Days of Wonder, FFG, Heidelbär, Plaid Hat, and Z-Man), will move forward with their own unique energy and vision. I have no doubt that they’ll be better, burn brighter, and achieve ever more fantastic things. I can’t wait to see what they’ll do, and to play what they’ll make.

The games to be released from our U.S. studios over the next 6-12 months, represent the final game products in which I have played a part. I could not have hoped for a more innovative, more commercially exciting, or more satisfying finale.

I leave to focus on family, health, and the pursuit of other interests. My departure has been long-planned with the Asmodee Group CEO, and my friend, Stephane Carville.

In case you’re wondering why the internal developments at Asmodee are important, it dovetails nicely with the industry sales reporting from ICv2 linked above as, across all five categories, Asmodee owns a full quarter of those games and handles European distribution for a large number of the others.

The Game Design and Puzzlecraft Humble Book Bundle is all about game design with a large focus on tabletop gaming. In fact, I’m pretty sure that the authors of the nineteen books in the bundle will either be familiar to you or will be if you check your game shelf: Justin Gary, James Lowder, Elisa Teague, Monte Cook, Shanna Germain, Mike Selinker, Robin J. Laws, Wolfgang Baur, and a lot more. Even at the $1 level, the bundle has books on the theory behind game design, storytelling through theme in a board game, crowdfunding for tabletop, and other useful topics for any fan of gaming or aspiring game designer, and all nineteen books (a $270 retail value) are available for just $15. This bundle benefits two charities, Girls Make Games and Girls Who Code and runs until August 15.

Over the Edge is the new edition of the classic narrative-focused roleplaying game from Jonathan Tweet and Atlas Games. Set in the Edge, a city in the Atlantic ocean filled with conspiracies, mad scientists, secret agents, paranormal entities, and more, this new version reimagines the setting from the ground-up keeping all the major players and plots but molding them to fit the modern era and to allow more gripping stories and adventure hooks. The core rulebook is available in PDF for $20 (with a “retro-pack” of all earlier editions available for $45), in print for $40 (or $65 with the retro-pack), in a deluxe edition for $100 (or $125 with retro-pack), and each option is available at a $10 higher level to include a special set of dice. This project is fully-funded and runs until Tuesday, August 14.

I just realized writing this now that there is a portion of the audience that’s too young to remember Homestar Runner and may be wondering why Trogdor!! The Board Game has raised almost a million dollars so far. It seems only yesterday that one of the first web-original series was bouncing across Myspace and BBSes. But for those who remember, the game features the legendary wingaling dragon Trogdor the Burninator as you work as cultists as part of the Keepers of Trogdor assisting him in burning down the village. The game is available for $40 with wooden meeple versions of the game pieces, $60 for an upgraded version with screen-printed meeples and fully-painted miniatures, or deluxe editions from Wyrmwood Gaming available for $200, $500, or $1800 depending on options. This Kickstarter funds and then some on Wednesday, August 15.

Good news, you space-faring fans of Starfinder: the STARFINDER ARMORY is here and it is stuffed to the gills with gear! There are new ways to frag, slag, burn, kill, maim, and otherwise cut a swath across the Core Worlds and beyond in this book, so let’s get cracking!

When WotC announced the Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron as a PDF release it caused a great disturbance as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in joy and frustration. The joy is because the most requested setting in the player surveys was finally being released for 5th Edition. The frustration is because it's not a physical book, it's not legal for D&D Adventurer's League and it said that Wayfinder's “will serve to collect feedback on adjusted races, dragon marks, new backgrounds and more,” making it seem like a beta release. By contrast, Curse of Strahd Ravenloft was presented as an adventure and source material.

Modern AGE is a tool box RPG with detailed rules for player characters but only a brief setting. There are enough adversaries and an adventure to get a GM started, but rules for customizing a setting are scarce. The rules are most comprehensive for a setting designed for the computer age.